This unit marked the first time we had to tackle one of the term’s major assignments: the formal report. I chose to do my project on UBC’s Blood For Life Club and the blood drives that the club operates. I thought that this was a cause that needs more attention, especially on a university campus; getting more young people to donate helps to increase the ever-shrinking donor base in Canada. As a regular blood donor this cause is near and dear to my heart, and I found that it was easy to do the research on something that I was so interested in! This, of course, is also a great lesson for life in general – when you do things you like, you feel more fulfilled, and getting them done is a lot less of a struggle.

As I mentioned before, the research was an incredibly interesting stage for me. As an Arts student, most of the research that I have performed in my degree has been at the library; for this project, I was actually collecting data from my fellow students. It was challenging to write the questions for my survey in a way that would allow me to collect the information that I needed, but once the responses came in, it was neat to see how well they fit my predictions. However, some of the responses were quite surprising. I was glad that Benjamin had mentioned in his review of my proposal that I should look into extending the dates and times of the blood drive, as this was definitely a priority for many of the respondents!

Organizing the report was the easiest part of the process. I looked at examples from the textbook and the course website, and found that the standard formula fit my own report well. The most difficult thing about this task was that not all of my interviews had been conducted at the time I wrote the draft! This meant that I had entire sections of the report that simply couldn’t be filled out yet, and put me slightly behind schedule. However, I have now collected all my data and am prepared to finish my report in the coming weeks.

I was especially looking forward to the peer review this week, as I wanted to double check that I was on the right track. The report that I reviewed was excellent; it was clear, concise, and made excellent use of formatting and visuals. It was extremely helpful to my process in that it gave me an example of excellent work to emulate. It’s also great to see what the other students are working on. Benjamin’s report focused on bike theft, which is a huge problem at UBC; it’s great to see that someone is working on a solution. This made me excited to give my own report to the Blood for Life Club. I hope that I can help them increase their donations through my work in this course! It’s awesome that the work we are doing in this class can actually be used constructively in real world applications.